Family and Preventive Medicine
[ undergraduate program | courses ]
All courses, faculty listings, and curricular and degree requirements described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice. Updates to curricular sections may be found on the Academic Senate website: http://senate.ucsd.edu/Curriculum/Updates.htm.
The Department of Family and Preventive Medicine’s mission is to improve health through both clinical care and research. Studies undertaken by departmental members focus on epidemiology as well as behavioral and clinical research, education, and clinical care. The department has a major education mission and hosts both an undergraduate degree and a doctoral degree in public health. It has a major role in teaching in the School of Medicine curriculum and hosts four separate medical residencies in Family Medicine (two), Family Medicine-Psychiatry, and Preventive Medicine. In addition, the department hosts the self-funding master’s degree (MAS) in healthcare leadership.
The Doctoral Program in Public Health
A PhD in public health with a concentration in epidemiology, health behavior, or global health is offered by the joint faculties of the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University (SDSU) and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine (FPM) with assistance from other departments in the School of Medicine at UC San Diego. Currently there are three specializations: epidemiology, global health, and health behavior.
For each specialization, the first year in this program involves full-time course work at SDSU with second- year full-time course work at UC San Diego. These two years fulfill the residency requirements for both universities. Students are expected to advance to candidacy in the third year. Applicants who enter with a master’s degree s are expected to graduate by the end of the fifth year.
Details of the following program can be found at
UC San Diego—http://publichealth.ucsd.edu/jdp/
SDSU—http://publichealth.sdsu.edu/phdmain.php
The Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) in Epidemiology
Stein Clinical Research Building, Room
349
Mail Code 0607
UC San Diego—http://epidemiology.ucsd.edu/
SDSU—http://publichealth.sdsu.edu/phdmain.php
The doctoral program in public health (epidemiology) was developed as a joint program in 1990 between the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), and the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University (SDSU). Students in the program complete course work and conduct research at both institutions. Faculty from each campus serve on advisory and dissertation committees, providing students with extensive exposure to experts whose research interests represent the interdisciplinary nature of modern public health. Dr. Deborah Wingard (UC San Diego) and Dr. Richard Shaffer (SDSU) codirect the program.
Requirements for the joint doctoral degree include
- successful completion of required course work
- passing written preliminary examinations in epidemiology and biostatistics
- passing written and oral qualifying examinations
- demonstrating proficiency in two computer-based statistical software packages
- demonstrating proficiency in teaching
- completion and successful formal defense of a dissertation
Typical areas of emphasis include infectious disease epidemiology, chronic disease epidemiology, cancer epidemiology, behavioral epidemiology, community-based trials, physical activity/exercise/nutrition and health. San Diego is ideally located in a large and ethnically diverse metropolitan center bordering Mexico and the Pacific Rim, enabling students to carry out population-based multicultural and multinational studies of health problems.
Time Limits
The goal of this policy is to encourage PhD completion in a timely manner.
Precandidacy limit. Maximum registered time to advance to PhD candidacy: 4 years
Support limit. Maximum registered time doctoral student is eligible for support: 6 years
Total time limit. Maximum registered time to complete all PhD requirements: 7 years
Degree and contact information may be found on our website: http://publichealth.sdsu.edu/phdmain.php. Admission requirements and application material can be found at http://publichealth.sdsu.edu/phdapplication.php.
The Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) in Global Health
Ash Building, Room 109
Mail Code 0622
Since 2007, a PhD in public health with a concentration in global health has been offered by multidisciplinary faculty in UC San Diego’s School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University. Global health relates to health issues and concerns that transcend national borders, class, race, ethnicity, and culture, stresses the commonality of health issues, and calls for collective, partnership-based action to resolve these issues. Accordingly, emphasis is on preparing graduates with the fundamental knowledge, understanding, and specific skills necessary to become public health researchers and professional leaders in global health settings. Proximity to the U.S./Mexico border and expertise of many current faculty support and encourage a focus on infectious diseases (e.g., HIV, TB, STDs) and health of migrant populations, although students are expected to develop other areas of specialization within the global health concentration. These may be content areas, such as chronic/infectious disease surveillance and prevention, environmental health, health policy, and substance abuse, or methodological areas such as quantitative, qualitative, and spatial research methodologies that are applied to address health problems of global health significance. Dr. Steffanie Strathdee (UC San Diego) and Dr. Jenny Quintana (SDSU) direct the program.
Requirements for the joint doctoral degree include
- Successful completion of required course work
- Passing written and oral qualifying examinations
- Demonstrated proficiency in teaching
- Demonstrated cultural competence appropriate to dissertation area
- Completion and successful formal defense of a dissertation
The Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) in Health Behavior
UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, Room 3063
Mail Code 0901
UC San Diego—https://meded.ucsd.edu/asa/goddp/joint_doctoral_program_in_public_health/health_behavior/
SDSU—http://publichealth.sdsu.edu
A PhD in public health with a concentration in health behavior is offered by the joint faculties of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine at UC San Diego and the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University (SDSU). Students in the program complete course work and conduct research at both institutions. Faculty from each campus serve on advisory and dissertation committees, providing students with extensive exposure to experts whose research interests represent the interdisciplinary nature of modern public health. Dr. John P. Pierce (UC San Diego) and Dr. Joni Mayer (SDSU) codirect the program.
Emphasis is on producing graduates with a mastery of the central concepts and analytic processes of health behavior. Graduates of the program are expected to establish advanced skills in applied behavioral analysis for population application; to establish expertise in advanced qualitative and quantitative research methods; to establish advanced skills in the application of interventions and research methods to health behavior in disenfranchised populations; and to establish skills necessary to understand and change health policy. Graduates of the program are competitive for a variety of research, teaching, and community service positions in areas such as academic institutions, local and state health departments, federal and international agencies, and both private and public-sponsored research institutions.
Areas of specialization currently include physical activity, tobacco control, skin-cancer prevention, nutrition and obesity, and HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis prevention and control. An additional emphasis will be placed on methodologies, such as measurement and related research issues; and ecological approaches to understanding health behavior. San Diego is ideally located in a large and ethnically diverse metropolitan center bordering Mexico and the Pacific Rim, enabling students to carry out community-based multicultural and multinational studies of health problems.
Time Limits
The goal of this policy is to encourage PhD completion in a timely manner.
Precandidacy limit. Maximum registered time to advance to PhD candidacy: 4 years
Support limit. Maximum registered time doctoral student is eligible for support: 6 years
Total time limit. Maximum registered time to complete all PhD requirements: 7 years
Information regarding admission is found in the current edition of the Bulletin of the Graduate Division of San Diego State University. To receive an application for admission, contact SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego 92182-4162, (619) 594-2743.
For more information, please contact UC San Diego Graduate Coordinator, 3855 Health Sciences Drive, Room 3063, La Jolla, CA 92093-0901, (858) 822-2382.